Cowlishaw: Notes of caution for overly optimistic Cowboys fans

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Vernon Bryant/Staff Photographer

Dallas Cowboys cornerback Brandon Carr (39) scores a touchdown off an interception from New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning (10) during the second half of play in a game between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants at AT&T Stadium in Arlington on Sunday, September 8, 2013. The Cowboys defeated the Giants 36-31. (Vernon Bryant/The Dallas Morning News)

ARLINGTON — You knew it was going to take something not just special but truly unique for the Cowboys to knock off the New York Giants here, something more than just a name change to AT&T Stadium.

And, in fact, Sunday night's 36-31 Cowboys victory took more than you could imagine.

How about three Giants turnovers in the first 6 minutes, 10 seconds? How about Tony Romo's first two-touchdown-pass game to Jason Witten ever? How about Romo giving up a 91-yard interception return that somehow led to only three New York points?

Yeah, there was all of that, and it still wasn't enough. Eli Manning, on his way to — if this is possible — a quiet 450 yards passing, just kept coming.

Having endured all of the above, now trailing by six with two minutes to go at midfield, the Giants were in so many ways right where they wanted to be all along.

"Somehow some way, we get the game to 30-24, the ball's at midfield, you've got to go win the game,'' Giants head coach Tom Coughlin said. "You've got to go win the game.''

Instead, the Giants lost it to Dallas on their sixth turnover of the night, a screen pass that bounced off the hands of seldom-used back De'Rel Scott into the arms of Cowboys cornerback Brandon Carr. His 49-yard touchdown return secured the Cowboys' win.

The Giants were the last visiting team to lose in Texas Stadium in 2008, but it took this odd confluence of circumstances for Dallas to finally subdue them in Tarrant County.

Maybe oddest of all? The Cowboys got a big boost for this season-opening win in the last week of the preseason.

That's when the Giants lost running back Andre Brown to a broken leg against New England, an exhibition in which key players are usually kept out of harm's way.

Why such a big deal when both teams had plenty of injuries to go around?

Ahmad Bradshaw is gone to Indianapolis. Coughlin couldn't bench Wilson after one fumble as he did a year ago. He waited until Wilson was stripped twice before turning to the inexperienced Scott.

But this game didn't just showcase the Giants' deficiencies. When the Cowboys defense wasn't producing turnovers, it was surrendering huge chunks of yardage. For all the praise that will be heaped on coordinator Monte Kiffin for having turned this unit into a takeaway machine — and that praise is certainly deserved for now — it's at least worth noting that only Baltimore (against Peyton Manning's seven-touchdown game) and Green Bay (shredded by the 49ers' Colin Kaepernick) have given up more yards on the first weekend than the Cowboys.

Some of the Giants' late gains fall into the "garbage yards'' category, however, and no one really left the stadium worried too much about a Cowboys' defense that got by with a makeshift defensive line.

With no Jay Ratliff or Anthony Spencer, George Selvie and Nick Hayden started while Jerome Long and Landon Cohen got their reps.

"There's a bunch of guys in the line y'all don't know, but I know them,'' tackle Jason Hatcher said. "And I wouldn't trade them for the world.''

The Cowboys needed defensive heroics because this was such a strange night for the Dallas offense. Witten scored the offense's only two touchdowns, and if you don't think that's weird, consider his only two previous two-TD games came against the Eagles with Vinny Testaverde (2004) and Jon Kitna (2010) on the other end.

For all of his Hall of Fame worthiness, Witten has never been a touchdown machine for the Cowboys. Plenty of us have questioned his use down around the goal line for years.

Consider that in his first 10 NFL seasons, Witten had more catches for more yards than another of the league's premier tight ends, San Diego's Antonio Gates, but trailed him in touchdowns, 83-44.

Witten said the recent success other teams have had going to tight ends in the red zone has not gone unnoticed here.

"You see it across the league, it's a mismatch in a lot of ways,'' Witten said. "That was an area I really focused on last year. I had a bunch of catches, but touchdowns were something we worked a lot on.''

Witten has gone entire seasons with two touchdown catches as recently as 2009 when in the regular season and post-season combined (yeah, the Cowboys had a post-season in '09), he caught 108 balls.

But it was a strange night in the passing game as Dez Bryant was little more than a decoy (four catches, 22 yards) and rookie Terrance Williams was the only one of Romo's eight targets to average more than nine yards per catch.

In other words, none of the Cowboys receivers had a Victor Cruz-type night as the Giants' receiver nearly Salsa-danced the Giants to victory with three touchdowns and 118 yards receiving.

Two notes of caution for the overly optimistic Cowboys fan this morning: 1. Kansas City was probably a game you circled as a win when the schedule came out. The Chiefs, 2-14 last season, own the biggest margin of victory on the first weekend ( a 28-2 win against Jacksonville). 2. Dallas opened the 2012 season with a win over the Giants as well, that one coming in New Jersey.

One statement of the obvious to wrap up: This Cowboys' team — defense in particular — looks fundamentally different from the 2012 team that never climbed two games over .500 until December.

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About Tim Cowlishaw

Tim Cowlishaw has been The Dallas Morning News' lead sports columnist since July 1998. Prior to that he covered the Cowboys for six seasons and the Stars for three as a beat reporter. He also covered the Rangers as a backup beat writer and was the San Jose Mercury News' beat writer on the San Francisco Giants in the late 1980s.

Tim has been appearing regularly on ESPN"s "Around the Horn" since the show made its debut in November 2002. He also worked with ESPN as part of the network's "NASCAR Now" coverage in 2007-08.

Favorite Dallas restaurants: Park, Nick and Sam's, Kenichi.

Worst sports prediction: His first in college ... that Earl Campbell had no shot at the Heisman Trophy.

Best sports memories: Seeing the Dallas Stars hoist the Stanley Cup long after midnight in Buffalo, watching the Dallas Cowboys win the Super Bowl and Texas win the national title in perfect Rose Bowl settings.